Expectations remain intact for Patriots' seniors

With 12 seniors on his roster, Olentangy Liberty High School boys soccer coach Rick Collins sees no reason to lower expectations.

DAVE PURPURA, ThisWeek Community News

With 12 seniors on his roster, Olentangy Liberty High School boys soccer coach Rick Collins sees no reason to lower expectations.

The Patriots have been one of the state's premier Division I programs in this decade, advancing to three consecutive state tournaments and winning the championship in 2012. Of this senior class -- the largest in Collins' four seasons -- seven either started or played significant time on the state title team, including first-team all-state senior midfielder Donny Deep.

"These guys have tasted the success of past years and they want that for themselves this year," said Collins, whose team went 17-4-1 overall and 5-2 in the OCC-Central Division last fall, losing to Mason 1-0 in a state semifinal. "Our seniors have all played at a high level, and our junior class is really strong as well."

Deep had 14 goals, including six game-winners, and five assists last year.

"He will be a marked man, and he's OK with that," Collins said. "He's used to it, and he has set the bar higher. He might have been a bit hesitant to lead last year, but he took some ownership and we'll need that even more from him this year."

The Patriots begin their season Thursday, Aug. 21, at home against Westerville Central.

According to coach Collins, who is not related to Wes Collins, Wes is the first freshman to make varsity in several years. Wes also is not related to Trevor Collins or his older brother, 2014 graduate Devin Collins.

One goal of which Liberty fell short last year was winning the OCC-Central championship. The Patriots tied Thomas Worthington for second behind Dublin Coffman (6-1).

Orange coach Scott Bryant entered his and the program's seventh season facing an unfamiliar problem.

"We lost our whole (defensive) backline and both goalkeepers," said Bryant, whose team has seven seniors. "This is the first time we've had to deal with replacing our goalkeeper with a guy who has pretty much zero experience at this level. The first six years, we were lucky in that guys seemed to always come up the pipeline."

Orange, which went 9-7-1 overall and 5-1-1 in the OCC-Capital last year, began its season Aug. 16 by tying host Westerville Central at 2.

Bryant hopes Orange is able to overcome its inexperience quickly. The Pioneers begin OCC-Capital play Tuesday, Aug. 26, at home against defending league champion New Albany.

"We look good in spurts, and then we tend to do silly things," Bryant said. "Luckily, we had to lean on some younger players the last half of the season last year, and those guys learned. Our only real hiccup was against Olentangy (in a 1-0 loss in the second round of the Division I district tournament)."

Orange was third in the OCC-Capital last year, behind New Albany (6-0-1) and Worthington Kilbourne (5-0-2) and ahead of Olentangy (4-3).

Perger leads largesenior class for Braves

First-year Olentangy coach Pat Shick hopes his transition is eased by the return of nine seniors, including last year's co-leading scorer in midfielder Jon Perger.

"We're going to be OK. Not having an out-and-out starting 11 is a good problem to have," said Shick, whose team opened Aug. 19 at Dublin Jerome. "We had three scrimmages and went 2-1, and the beauty of it was that we really didn't have a drop-off no matter who we had on the field. The guys have battled every day to prove themselves."

Perger had six goals, sharing the team lead with first-team all-district forward and 2014 graduate Logan Schwing. The Braves were 9-9-1 overall.

Shick replaced Matt Weiss, who coached the Braves for two seasons. Shick is a 2004 Olentangy graduate who served as a graduate assistant for Otterbein University's men's soccer team the past two seasons as he pursued a master's degree in health and wellness.

"It's a good way to stay involved in soccer," Shick said. "I started out not really interested in coaching. But I got the (graduate assistant) position while I was going for my master's, and the program made me want to stay involved (with soccer). I'm enjoying working with the team and watching them develop."

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